Pouring bell reamer for casting molds



Sept. 8, 1964 G. OSTICH 3,147,520

POURING BELL REAMEIR FOR CASTING MOLDS Filed Sept. 11, 1961 INVENTOR. George Osfich United States Patent 3 147,520 POURING BELL REAIi IER FOR CASTING MOLDS George Ostich, .603 Azalea Blvd., Barberton, Ohio Filed Sept. 11, 1961, Ser. No. 137,348 Claims. (Cl. 22-185) This invention relates to metal molding, and in particular to a tool for reaming a pouring bell in the sprue hole of a sand mold cope.

Heretofore, molders have made such pouring bells by manipulating a trowel, for example, to enlarge the outer end of the sprue hole. This method has been objectionable because the resultant removed sand could be disposed of only by catching limited amounts on the trowel, or by allowing the sand to fall by gravity through the sprue opening. Mechanical devices provided for this purpose were generally objectionable because they tended to damage the sand mold, or because there was no satisfactory means for disposing of the removed sand. Such devices have also generally been complicated and uneconomical to manufacture and for these and other reasons have not been available on the market for general use in the metal casting art.

One object of the invention is to provide a pouring bell reamer of the character described including a reaming body of simple one-piece construction and provided with cutter means by which the sprue hole is neatly reamed out to form the pouring bell in the same, and by which the removed sand may be retained in the body of the reamer for subsequent disposal by inversion of the reamer, and by which a smooth surfaced pouring bell is accomplished with a minimum of manual effort.

Other objects of the invention will be manifest from the following brief description and the accompanying drawings.

Of the accompanying drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation, partly broken away and in section, of a pouring bell reamer embodying the features of the invention, in association with a sand mold cope.

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged cross-section taken substantially on the line 22 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a cross-section of the reamer body on the same scale as FIGURE 2, taken substantially on the line 33 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a cross-section corresponding to FIG- URE 3, but illustrating the reamer body after it has been turned within a sprue hole to form the pouring bell.

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary vertical cross-section through the reamer and mold cope, after the pouring bell has been reamed out.

FIGURE 6 is a view corresponding to FIGURE 5, but with the reamer removed, and illustrating the pouring bell formed thereby.

Referring to FIGURES 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings, there is illustrated a pouring bell reamer 10 embodying the features of the invention, the same comprising a onepiece cup-shaped metal member 11, having an inner end wall 12 and an axially outwardly flared, generally conic peripheral wall 13 terminating in a continuous lip or flange portion 14 at the open end. Formed in the peripheral wall 13 may be an elongated slot 15 defined by peripherally opposed, radially spaced edges 16 and 17 in the wall. The radially outermost edge 17 is tapered or bevelled inwardly in the manner of a knife. Slot 15 extends axially of the body substantially to the full depth of the body, from the continuous lip 14 to the inner or bottom wall 12. For purposes to be described later, the offset between the edges 16 and 17 of the slot 15 is substantial, as best shown at x in FIGURE 3, and this offset relation of the edges may be accomplished by making the wall 13 of spiral cross-section along substantially the entire extent or depth thereof, as best illustrated in FIG- URES 3 and 4.

For rotating the reamer member 11 about a longitudinal axis thereof, a manually operable brace 18 of known type has a shank portion or extension 19 suitably nonrotatably affixed to the inner face of the inner end wall 12 of the member. The brace has an offset portion 20 adapted to be gripped with one hand of an operator while his other hand is used to grip a handle or knob 21 on an outer end portionof the brace and aligned with the shank in known manner.

Operation of the improved reamer will be best understood by reference to FIGURES l and 4 to 6. FIGURE 1 shows the position of the reamer member 11 at the start of an operation to ream out a sprue hole 22 in a a body of molded sand 23 of a mold cope 24. The opera tor, by gripping the brace 18 as described and operating it in known manner may rotate the member 11 in clockwise direction, as viewed in FIGURE 4, about the axis of the member while aligned with the axis of the sprue hole 22, and while pressure is applied to the knob 21, thereby to urge the member 11 inwardly of the sprue hole. This clockwise rotation of the reamer is somewhat in the nature of a screw action in that the offset knife edge 17 cuts into the sand and feeds it into the interior of the member, through the slot 15, while the smooth trailing spiral surface portions of the wall continuously press against the cut or enlarged portions in the sand, until the pouring bell 25 is fully formed, as best shown in FIGURES 5 and 6. In other words, there is a screwlike lifting action on the sand moving into the reamer, due to the upward progressively increasing relief capacity attained by the upwardly divergent, combined conic and receding spiral wall formation described above.

The reamer member 11 may be emptied of sand from time to time, as necessary, by inverting the same at a point away from the mold cope. Also, the pouring bell 25 may be symmetrically shaped and smoothed over to remove loose sand particles as by turning the reamer as described, but in reverse or counter-clockwise direction. In addition the reamer may be manipulated in controlled angular positions and under requisite pressure to deepen and/ or vary the shape of the pouring bell.

Pouring bells may be similarly formed in sprue holes while the mold cope 23 is supported on one of its sides by rotating the reamer about a horizontal axis. That is, the reaming operation would be performed with the cope and reamer in the relationship shown in FIGURE 5, but turned ninety degrees, in which event the sand reamed out as previously described will pour from sloped Wall 13 of the member 11 in a steady stream.

It is contemplated that the reamer member 11 may be of cast metal or made by known metal stamping methods, and in modified form may also be used for tapering or enlarging risers or vent holes in sand molds.

Other modifications of the invention may be resorted to without departing from the spirit thereof, or the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A tool as for reaming a hole in sand or like granular material in a body thereof, comprising: a generally conic member having an inner end wall portion and a peripheral wall outwardly flared therefrom to an open end of the member; said peripheral wall terminating at said open end in a peripheral lip portion, and the wall having an elongated slot generally axially extending between said lip portion and said end wall portion; said slot being defined by peripherally opposed, radially spaced edges in the wall; the radially outermost of said spaced edges terminating in a knife-like edge portion; the outer surface of said peripheral wall receding inwardly from agar/3520 the outermost to the innermost of said spaced edges; and turning means being provided on said member for rotating the same about the axis thereof, while the member is pressed inwardly of said body of material in direction for cutting and feeding the granular material through said slot into the member and thereby to ream the hole in said body of material.

2. A tool as set forth in claim 1, said receding outer wall surface between said opposed edges being generally of spiral cross-section in planes transversely of the axis of the conic member.

3. A tool as set forth in claim 2, said turning means including a manually operable crank handle having a shank extension afiixed to said end wall portion.

4. A tool as set forth in claim 1, said turning means including a manually operable crank handle having a shank extension affixed to said inner end wall portion inwardly of the member.

5. A tool as set forth in claim 1, said receding outer wall surface between said opposed edges being generally of spiral cross-section in planes transversely of the axis of the conic member, and said turning means including a manually operable brace aifixed to said member to ex- A tend outwardly of the open end of the same.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

1. A TOOL AS FOR REAMING A HOLE IN SAND OR LIKE GRANULAR MATERIAL IN A BODY THEREOF, COMPRISING: A GENERALLY CONIC MEMBER HAVING AN INNER END WALL PORTION AND A PERIPHERAL WALL OUTWARDLY FLARED THEREFROM TO AN OPEN END OF THE MEMBER; SAID PERIPHERAL WALL TERMINATING AT SAID OPEN END IN A PERIPHERAL LIP PORTION, AND THE WALL HAVING AN ELONGATED SLOT GENERALLY AXIALLY EXTENDING BETWEEN SAID LIP PORTION AND SAID END WALL PORTION; SAID SLOT BEING DEFINED BY PERIPHERALLY OPPOSED, RADIALLY SPACED EDGES IN THE WALL; THE RADIALLY OUTERMOST OF SAID SPACED EDGES TERMINATING IN A KNIFE-LIKE EDGE PORTION; THE OUTER SURFACE OF SAID PERIPHERAL WALL RECEDING INWARDLY FROM THE OUTERMOST TO THE INNERMOST OF SAID SPACED EDGES; AND TURNING MEANS BEING PROVIDED ON SAID MEMBER FOR ROTATING THE SAME ABOUT THE AXIS THEREOF, WHILE THE MEMBER IS PRESSED INWARDLY OF SAID BODY OF MATERIAL IN DIRECTION FOR CUTTING AND FEEDING THE GRANULAR MATERIAL THROUGH SAID SLOT INTO THE MEMBER AND THEREBY TO REAM THE HOLE IN SAID BODY OF MATERIAL. 